What is Candy?

Candy is one of the less known CrossFit Girl benchmarks, but if you look at the name, you will probably know when Candy found its origin. I am talking about Cindy, which has the same movements and about the same total reps as Candy but fewer rounds and larger sets.

In the Cindy (20 min AMRAP of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 air squats) the first significant milestone is 20 rounds RX. Finishing Candy under 20 minutes (same volume of work as 20 rounds of Cindy) is much harder because sets are larger.

Good time to beat of Candy

According to the WOD Time Calculator app, the good time to beat for an advanced athlete is 20:34 while elite athletes have time to beat of 15:33 and regionals athletes have time to beat of 13:09 (in this case you have to blaze through the WOD).

On another hand, there are beginners. They should aim for 30 to 40 minutes.

How to get a good time in the Candy

You can’t just do Candy unbroken (except first round) unless you are bodyweight ninja.

Larger sets in the Candy require more planning ahead. To get the best time possible, you will want to split up sets more than you think you need and keep the rest between those sets minimal.

Also, set the time goal before you start the Candy and stick to it. There is no reason for finishing the first round in 2:00 if your overall time will be ~20:00.

The first and the last rounds should be done at the about the same pace. Start slowly and finish quickly.

Pull-Ups

If you are good at pull-ups, go for 2 sets of 10 reps. Otherwise, 3 sets of 7+7+6 or 4 sets of 6+6+4+4 are a better idea.

Each rest will add only about 2-3 seconds to your total time.

Use chalk only before starting first set of each round of pull-ups.

Do pull-ups unbroken only in the last round if you know you are able to do them.

Butterfly pull-ups will always be faster than kipping pull-ups but start with kipping pull-ups only if you are getting fatigued after less than 40 butterfly pull-ups.

There are only 20 pull-ups in each round and the rest is long enough for you to fully recover back muscles for them.

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Push-Ups

Push-ups are the main sticking point in the Candy.

You may go for large sets and feel ok during first 2 rounds but you will slow down in later rounds.

Your goal is to have about the same pace for all rounds, always approach push-ups (even in the first round) as it is your last round.

I would recommend doing 8 sets of 5 quick push-ups in all rounds. After each set, get on your knees and immediately return to the push-up position.

If you are not great at the push-ups, you may consider doing even sets of just 2 or 3 push-ups, make sure your rest in between is quick.

Air Squats

Air squats are the most comfortable movement of all three movements. Your heart rate will be high during air squats but your pulling and pushing muscles should feel recovered after you finish air squats.

You have two options. Do air squats unbroken, without rest, keep the pace or do air squats in 3 sets of 20 or 6 sets of 10.
I usually do air squats unbroken but both variants will be about the same fast.

Scaling Candy

There is not much to scale as the movements are just basic bodyweight movements. Anyway, you have a few options for scaling Candy.

You can change the time domain, scale the rounds to 3 or 4 or make Candy 20-minute AMRAP.

You can lower reps in each round and/or add rounds. For example, 10 rounds of 10/20/30 or just 5 rounds of 10/20/30.

And if movements are too difficult you may change them but keep the reps and rounds same.

For example, scale pull-ups for jumping pull-ups or ring rows, scale push-ups for push-ups against the box and scale air squats for squats on the bench or box.